Occasionally the Leprechauns who tend growing trees find one which is... Evil. These Evil Trees need to be cut or burned down to preserve the forest, which is a perfect job for an adventurer such as yourself! There are two ways to participate in this minigame, you can search for newly growing Evil Trees yourself or wait for others to find them and join in just to take them down.

Note: You can help to take down a maximum of two Evil Trees per day. This resets at midnight GMT. This Distractions and Diversions can be dangerous if you cut trees in areas infested with dangerous monsters.

There are two ways to find Evil Trees. If you are in or enter the general area, at least 2 diameters of the mini-map, of an Evil Tree when it appears, then you will get hit by a tree root and say "What was that?". This will only happen once for each Evil Tree, unless you leave the area or log out. If this happens you are close to the Evil Tree, meaning that you can just check the Evil Tree spawn locations near where you are to find it. You can be affected by the roots anywhere in the area including inside banks.

Alternatively, if you have completed the Tree Gnome Village quest, then you may talk any Spirit Tree, including one grown on a Farming patch to find out when an Evil Tree is due to grow. The time the Evil Tree tells you is accurate to within 15 minutes of when the tree will appear. You will see a message like this:

Spirit Tree messages and Evil Tree time-line:

Status

Spirit Tree Message

+60 min.

There won't be another evil tree for over an hour.

30-60 min.

There won't be another evil tree for over half an hour.

15-30 min.

There will be another evil tree in just under half an hour.

5-15 min.

There will be another evil tree in just less than 15 minutes.

0-5 min.

Another strange sapling is about to sprout.

An Evil Tree sapling has appeared and can be nurtured.

Are you interested in the strange sapling?

A fully grown Evil Tree can be cut and burnt

Are you here to dispatch the evil tree?

When an Evil Tree Sapling appears the Spirit Tree will give you a hint to the location, which you can then either use to find the Evil Tree (see below), or you can wait until the Evil Tree is fully grown. When the Evil Tree is fully grown the Spirit Tree can teleport you directly to it. So you should carry as many of the recommended items as you can. A trip to the Oo'glog pools to get infinite run energy just before the Evil Tree Sapling is due can also be helpful.

Nurturing Evil Trees:

If the Spirit Tree tell you that, that a Sapling is due "soon", then you will have to keep checking with the Spirit Tree to see if it has appeared yet. When the Evil Tree Sapling has appeared on your world, the Spirit Tree will tell you it is there. At this time, if will not teleport you directly to the Evil Tree but instead you will get a hint as to its general location. Evil Saplings will mature by themselves given time. However, if you find them at the Evil Sapling stage, then you can speed things up and get Farming XP by nurturing them. Nurturing is not required to chop or burn the Evil Tree. To nurture it simply left-click on the Evil Sapling.

Hint: You can find out which type of Evil Tree the sapling will grow into by checking the Farming XP you get from nurturing the sapling.

Evil Trees have 5 growth stages. You will receive Farming XP for each growth stage as shown below:

Evil Tree Type

Farming Required

Farming XPPer Stage

Regular

1

20

Oak

7

45

Willow

15

66

Maple

22

121

Yew

30

172

Magic

37

311

Elder

42

730687

Killing Evil Trees:

When you arrive at the Evil Tree, it is a good idea to find out what type of tree it is and what its remaining health is. To do this right-click the tree and click "Inspect" and then "Click to continue" to find out the health of the tree. This will also show your reward %, which is the percentage of the maximum reward you can get from that Evil Tree. This will increase as you chop the Evil Tree and set fires around it. Chopping Evil Trees will give you Woodcutting level XP. If you chop the Evil Tree roots immediately around the tree as shown below you will get Evil tree kindling which can be used to burn the tree to receive Firemaking. If you get enough kindling, then it is possible to light up to 8 fires on each Evil Tree, by right-clicking the Evil Tree and selecting "light fire" or using the Evil tree Kindling on the tree.

All the possible Evil Tree locations are listed below. To find a place corresponding to a particular hint more quickly you can search this guide by pressing CTRL + F and typing part of the hint into the search tool.

Experience:
Nurturing an Evil tree sapling will gain you a certain amount of Farming XP. For taking part in the killing of an Evil Tree, you will receive Firemaking and Woodcutting XP. Please refer to the sections above for more detailed information on the experiences to gain.

Items:
When the Evil Tree has died, you can collect the rewards by clicking on its remains. You will always receive a number of noted logs of the same type as the Evil Tree (Elder Evil Trees can give Yew, Magic, Teak or Mahogany logs). Additionally, you will also receive a random item.

Woodcutting Boost:
The Tool Leprechaun will give you a temporary magical boost after you kill the tree. This magic boost reduces the chance that you will fell trees, so that you do not have to switch between trees as often. This effect does not work on trees growing at your farming patch.

Log-Banking:
The Tool Leprechaun also gives you a magical ability to automatically bank logs if your inventory is full, so that you can continue to cut trees even when your inventory is full. This magic log banking effect only works with the following trees: Basic, Oak, Willow, Maple, Eucalyptus, Mahogany, Teak, Yew and Magic. It does not work on Cursed Magic Trees. The maximum time this magic will last for 100% reward gained on cutting the Evil Tree depends on the tree type and is given below:

Regular - 6 minutes

Oak - 10 minutes

Willow - 14 minutes

Maple - 18 minutes

Yew - 22 minutes

Magic - 26 minutes

Elder - 30 minutes

Evil Tree Kindling:
Finally, you can sell any remaining Evil tree kindling to the The Tool Leprechaun for 25gp each. However, it is recommended to keep a few ready for your next Evil Tree.

This Distraction/Diversion Guide was written by Dwayne _Dibly. Thanks to thescheppel, Graystar, Clamball, Mitthy1, The_estranged_Flameshame7, zizzerkat, Hilwin1, Alfawarlord, and lungngaihim for corrections.This Distraction/Diversion Guide was entered into the database on Sun, Apr 26, 2009, at 06:44:22 PM by MrStormy, and it was last updated on Mon, Nov 06, 2017, at 02:43:14 AM by Numerous One.

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